Music Review: The Turtles, 45 RPM Singles Collection

By Melissa Bratcher

One of the things that makes listening to music on vinyl different is how much attention must be paid to it. Putting an iPod on shuffle is easy, but not interactive. Listening to an album, or better yet, singles, makes me slow down, sit down, and actually listen to the music. It’s no longer background noise. It’s an experience.

Which brings me to the new 45 RPM Singles Collection from 1960s pop geniuses, The Turtles. A tidy box set of eight singles (7-inch 45s, just like in the olden days! Make sure you have an adapter!) in their own sleeves, the 45 RPM Singles Collection rewards the sort of close listening that singles encourage. These short and sweet beauties range from the band’s first hit, a cover of Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe” to 1969’s gorgeous “You Showed Me,” backed with some of their inventive tracks. It’s a treasure.

The Turtles were craftsmen, taking sunny pop songs and adding a sometimes-sinister edge to them. Listen to “Elenore.” What could be a simple love song to a girl who’s groovy—“there’s no one like you, Elenore, really”—is turned on its head by the creepy organ that stalks through the song. It’s edgier than I remembered. (And while the aforementioned is a great line that scans well, it doesn’t hold a candle to the line from the chorus “You’re my pride and joy, et cetera” which always makes me happy. It’s got a tinge of absurdism that always works.)

Their biggest hit, “Happy Together,” has a delightful bit of misdirection, as well. On the surface, it’s a sweet love song in a minor key. Lyrically (written by Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon, who also wrote their hits “She’d Rather Be With Me” and “She’s My Girl”) it’s crushingly sad, about a fellow who realizes that the object of his affection will never know how much he adores her, how wonderful they would be together, and he tries to change the subject (“How is the weather?” as an offhand comment).

While the hit singles are essential, some of the best bits are the B-sides. The enchanting “Story Of Rock And Roll” is a trip through the progression of rock (starting in the South and taking a left at New Orleans), married to a bumping baritone sax, and written by Harry Nilsson. “Outside Chance” is a great, jangly, edgy take on Warren Zevon’s song, rocking pretty damn hard. The Turtles-penned “Sound Asleep” hints at the bizarreness that singers Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman would later get up to with Zappa. It’s an experimental song with the typical Turtles harmonized “Bah-bah’s” but with time signature changes, a little sitar, a little wood sawing, and a whole lot of cacophony.

The Turtles are firmly entrenched in the pantheon of great pop bands. Their singles were amazing: like the brilliant “She’s My Girl”–from its low down beginning to its soaring chorus–and the perfect pop moments and the slinky gorgeousness of “You Showed Me,” which was written by Byrds Gene Clark and Jim McGuinn. This 45 RPM Singles Collection is a fantastic entry point to the Turtles’ music in a lovely package.

45 RPM Singles Collection was released by FloEdCo/Manifesto Records on September 16.